Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Synonyms For Studio

If you're only posting once a week and you miss a week, that's two weeks between postings... which feels like forever since we've talked last... only there's not all that much new to say. I'm still doing a lot of knitting - triangle scarves that start with one stitch and increase to 350 stitches - and it's repetitiously soothing but not nearly as satisfying as sewing. This morning, if I've arranged things as well as I hope I've arranged them, I should have a couple hours to sew before my appointment. LOL - it's about time!

I spent the 6th of August with my friend Caroline who lives 2100 miles north of me. We met when we were sixteen and she's my oldest friend. Both of us love to sew so we spent time going through my closet looking at what I'd sewn since the last time she visited. As soon as she tried on the magic dress, it was into the studio to trace my alterations for the bodice. She said it fit just perfect. She's the third person to trace my alterations so I guess my perfect fit is fairly standard - VBG.

On Friday the 7th, I was in Salmon Arm for the afternoon knitting group. These women are my newest friends and they've been incredibly welcoming and supportive of my move. Before knitting, I dropped off the deposit cheque and signed the subject removal form and when I drove by the house a couple hours later, the sold sign was up. It's official. I am moving.

On Saturday the 8th, I went to Calgary to help take care of my grandson. My daughter is 37 weeks pregnant and more than ready to be done. She'll be induced at 39 weeks so I'm expecting to hear the delivery date any time now and then I'll be going back for a week or two. There was no posting last week because I was playing with my grandson. If there's no posting next week, I'm playing with my grandson... and the new baby... whose picture I'll want to post as soon as I'm allowed.

Yesterday I packed 30 white boxes, one wardrobe box, and one large mirror pack. These boxes are in addition to the ones stacked upstairs. I'm almost done but not quite. There will be at least six more white boxes, possibly more. I was starting to feel a little sheepish writing studio on all of them so I started using synonyms like knitting, jewelry, dye supplies, s-books, and computer. It all goes to the same room so it all means the same thing. For a minimalist in the rest of my house, I have a lot of stuff in the studio BUT...

... it's all potential. I packed away a whole bunch of projects that I'm really excited to get to work on. One of my goals is to work in series and that doesn't necessarily mean a garment series. I packed six identical small boxes with lids, eight spiral bound covers from journals with their pages torn out, a huge bag of "bracelets" that were made from the core that yarn was wrapped around, five large balls of yarn made from ribbing, some necklaces that I want to explore in fabric, the bag of grey beads I started a couple months ago, and more... much more.

Series work is VERY stretching. With my textile art, it was a common way for me to work. With fashion sewing, I've sewn quite a few of one t-shirt pattern but I haven't focused on really pushing the series idea and - why not - because I certainly have the supplies to stretch with. In fact, I may re-live a challenge I set ten years ago which was to spend a year using only what's in my studio. I grew tremendously in many ways.

Your tools can become dull and your senses numb when you consistently apply the same old methods. The creative act is inherently risky because it requires you to step out into uncertainty.

When you schedule time for Unnecessary Creation, you create a safe space to experiment with new ways of working. You get to try and fail without dire consequences. You can create what's in your head rather than adapt what's in your head to someone else's expectations.

In my creative study - Manage Your Day-to-Day - the last chapter focused on Unnecessary Creation referring to work with no strings attached. The two sections quoted above resonated. While I'm looking forward to living in and being part of a creative community, I won't be socializing all the time. I want to do some serious unnecessary creating and really play with ideas, see what develops, and share my discoveries in person and on the blog. Once I'm settled, I plan to spend three full days a week in the studio exploring ideas. YES YES - I can hardly wait.

4 comments:

The thing about being creative is that there are all those ideas popping around! Series work forces you to drill deeper and not get seduced into chasing the latest shiny idea...... I love that stack of white boxes. And I think the fact that you've already found a new group of friends is terrific.

I know. I love the popping ideas. It's exciting to have them waiting for me and definitely will be something fabulous to break up the cleaning and painting and unpacking. I'm very grateful for a new group of friends. They're making the move so much easier because as wonderful as it is, it is also a bit scary. So very different.

It was good to drink my coffee this morning and read your post. So many exciting things happening for your Myrna. Know that you have a (slightly envious) cheering section over here in Edmonton. Once you are settled (and back from playing with a new baby - hope things go well there) you might want to check out Our Social Fabric in Vancouver (https://oursocialfabric.wordpress.com/) I was visiting there and made it to a sale - it was very fun and also fun to meet the sewing community there. My friend who was with me (not a sewist) said that everyone who came out of the store front had huge grins on their faces. Best to you and yours and safe travels on your journeys

Thanks for the cheering. You know it's reciprocal. I hardly ever get to Vancouver anymore which is kind of funny since I was down there all the time in my twenties. Salmon Arm is just over an hour in the opposite direction but I'll definitely keep it in mind for the next time I'm through that way. Huge grins are a great motivator.

Myrna Giesbrecht

Welcome. I love to sew... and knit... and read... and talk... a lot... and I love learning especially about creativity and about life. Please feel free to comment. I love the conversation and if you need to, you can email me privately at myrna (at) myrnagiesbrecht (dot) com. If you're wondering what the header is all about, read this posting. Thanks for visiting. - Myrna

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